The Sciences
A Message from the President
Leadership in an Age of Opportunity
Scientific method has yielded progressively deeper insights about the nature of our world since its introduction in the seventeenth century. Reasoned discovery has supplanted superstition, and at key moments—from the industrial revolution to the information age—new knowledge and its applications have transformed people’s attitudes and livelihoods. I invite you to participate in the latest revolution by dramatically expanding our capacity for science, engineering, and medicine at Yale.
Advancing knowledge and its applications
In the twenty-first century, scientists around the world will have a massive impact on society, thanks to an explosion of new knowledge in biology and other fields—and better ways to use it. Computers let us model complex systems so that we can reliably test hypotheses at vastly accelerated speeds. We have the ability to image and manipulate matter at extreme scales, probing the far edges of the universe and the atom-by-atom assembly of materials. And where certain disciplines meet—like cell biology and clinical medicine or chemistry and energy research—today’s science promises major leaps forward.
At Yale, we have participated for decades in scientific advances that drive America’s health and prosperity. Our faculty is home to leading thinkers in fields from genetics to quantum computing and from biomedical engineering to nanoscience. On our medical campus, researchers and physicians break new ground every day in the treatment of cancer, neurological disorders, and cardiovascular disease. And in New Haven and its environs, Yale discoveries have launched a thriving biotechnology industry. In short, we are prepared as few institutions are to advance basic knowledge and to apply it to today’s greatest challenges.
A special capacity for teaching
No less important, Yale has a special capacity for teaching. In the twenty-first century, no education will be complete without a significant infusion of science and quantitative reasoning. The curricular reforms now unfolding in Yale College were developed expressly to meet the need for a scientifically literate citizenry. Likewise, our graduate and professional schools remain focused on their mission of preparing informed leaders in government, policy, business, and the academy.
Our commitment to the future of science and engineering presents challenges.
With the boundaries of knowledge expanding so quickly, universities the world over are pressed to keep up with the latest ideas, methods, and equipment. Competition for top faculty and excellent students is more intense than ever. And despite our active programs of renovation and new construction, both Science Hill and the medical campus need further improvements to facilities for teaching, research, and clinical care.
New initiatives in science and medicine
This brochure presents a set of far-sighted initiatives to expand the reach of science and medicine at Yale and beyond. Your gifts to the Yale Tomorrow campaign can help keep the best minds working here and equip them to make the discoveries that will benefit humankind tomorrow. Science education, research, or clinical medicine—wherever you direct your gift, you can have a lasting impact on the University and a timely effect on the wider world we aspire to serve.
Richard C. Levin
